Mamata rallies intellectuals against Left

If Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee launches a cultural offensive to garner votes,can Mamata Banerjee be far behind?

Just two days ago,the CPM had mobilised the entire Left-leaning intelligentsia at Sisir Mancha where the chief minister explained his partys stand vis-à-vis Singur,Nandigram,Lalgarh and others. He also lamented the absence of many known faces from the world of art and culture. It would have been better had they been here so that I could remove so many of the misgivings and confusion from their minds, Bhattacharjee rued.

On Tuesday,the same known faces whom the chief minister missed were seen at Netaji Indoor Stadium. The occasion: a function on the eve of Bengali New Year organised by Paschim Banga Sanskritik Mancha,a cultural organisation,which can be easily dubbed as Trinamool Congress counterpart of CPMs Ganatrantik Lekhok and Kalakushali Samiti.

And quite invariably,the top brass of Trinamool,including party chief Mamata Banerjee,leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Partha Chatterjee,legislators Sobhondeb Chattopadhyay and Madan Mitra,to name a few,were there.

The intellectuals side included author Mahasweta Devi,theatre personalities Bibhas Chakraborty,Bratya Basu,painters Suvaprasanna,Jogen Choudhury,poet Joy Goswamy and others.

But no speeches were made. The stadium instead reverberated with songs and recitations. Selected portions of plays critical of the policies of the Marxist government were also enacted.

Amid this Banerjee seemed to be enjoying every bit of it,giving autographs,tapping her knee as a cultural band sang a Bihu song. She requested singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay to sing a song which was her favourite. As poet Joy Goswamy finished reciting his poems,some of which were overtly critical of the policies of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,the Trinamool leader burst into applause.

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